Monthly Archives: April 2007

All About Samhain

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This week from Samhain:

Best sellers at My Bookstore and More:

1. Tamara’s Spirit by Nicole Austin
2. Lisa’s Gift by Mackenzie McKade
3. Chosen by Amelia Elias

From last week, Chosen and The Whole Shebang made it onto the list. From two weeks ago, What Hides Inside and A Man for Marley also hit the top ten.

Reviews:

Mrs. Giggles has given high marks to some Samhain books.

Library copies

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Six copies of Haven have arrived in my library system. They are newly acquired! I can’t tell you how exciting this is. I hope someone actually checks them out.

It is categorized under:

  • Vacation homes — Fiction
  • Man-woman relationships –Fiction
  • Romance fiction

In other news, I have seen my cover for The Strength of the Pack and it is to die for. (Echoes of Scar here, I know.) I can’t wait to show it off and my new banner by Dawn Seewer. So so pretty.

All About Samhain

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This week from Samhain:

Best sellers from My Bookstore and More:

1. Tamara’s Spirit by Nicole Austin
2. Lisa’s Gift by Mackenzie McKade
3. Half Moon Rising by Margo Lukas

From last week, Lisa’s Gift, Goddess of the Grove and Past Lies all made it onto the bestseller list.

Sunday links

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I haven’t kept up with all the posts and comments around the blogosphere, but I still wanted to touch on a few—I’m talking about the rape in romance discussion spurred on (I think) by Robin’s review of Claiming the Courtesan at Dear Author. There was further discussion with Jane’s post, A Reader in the Middle.

Jenny Crusie defends the right of writers to write books that she doesn’t want to read. And, also, touches on what rape fantasy is:

To bar rape from romance is to bar a very common fantasy for women. (If “rape fantasy” makes you twitch, try “surrender fantasy” or “lack of responsibility fantasy” or “Alan Rickman Showed Up At My Front Door and Even Though I’m Happily Married With Two Kids He Ravished Me and There Was Nothing I Could Do About It fantasy.”) Very few women fantasize about being attacked in a parking garage by an overweight drug addict with a bad skin rash and an STD. It’s always somebody gorgeous who smells good: Russell Crowe/Brad Pitt/Daniel Craig/Sex Object of Your Choice Here. It is, in short, a fantasy, and women know that.

Laurie Gold also commented on this, not so much in terms of rape, but of BDSM and extreme alpha heroes.

In a strong sense these stories feed into the same fantasy as the bodice-rippers and forced seduction of years past, which, as we know plays into the fantasy of being forced to accept pleasure. Women are generally the caretakers of the world – yes, we are the ones who eat the heels of a loaf of bread – and we often have a hard time accepting our own sexual needs as they can seem “selfish”. So for many, the idea of a dominant hero forcing us to be pleasured works.

In general, I will say that rape fantasy or the extreme alpha male hero doesn’t work for me. Too often in this type of book I get distracted by how, in real life, I would be running for the hills from this type of guy, no matter how hot he was. However, there are paranormal exceptions, because the ground rules of the world are changed. In Kresley Cole’s A Hunger Like No Other, the lychae hero has been tortured for decades and is half-insane before he meets his mate. He’s no rapist, Cole makes that clear, but he comes on very strong.

All About Samhain

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This week from Samhain:

Best sellers from My Bookstore and More:

1. Tamara’s Spirit by Nicole Austin
2. Missing In Action by Amanda Young
3. Half Moon Rising by Margo Lukas

Tamara’s Spirit was released last week. Tempting Darkness, from last week, and On the Edge, from two weeks ago, also made the list.

Thursday thirteen

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Well, after doing Thursday Thirteen at Beyond the Veil last week, I thought I’d try it here at home.

It wasn’t that long ago that All About Romance introduced me to the concept of glomming, that is reading a bunch of books by one author. So I wanted to see if I could list authors I have glommed in my lifetime. In no particular order:

  1. Lois McMaster Bujold—particularly her Miles Vorkosigan series. Though I’ve loved most of her books.
  2. Suzanne Brockmann—I was taking an online course, with Virginia Kantra I believe—and she mentioned Out of Control. Maybe it was an excerpt, maybe it was a description of the book. I had to try it and there was no looking back.
  3. Jennifer Crusie—Welcome to Temptation re-introduced me to contemporary romance and I’ve read all her single titles.
  4. Susan Elizabeth Phillips—my favorite is still the one I read first, It Had to be You, although I’ve enjoyed many many SEPs.
  5. Dorothy Dunnett—rereading the Lymond Chronicles was the most intense reading experience of my life. I just can’t recommend these highly enough. I also enjoyed the House of Niccolo.
  6. Jo Beverley—just adored her Malloren series and can’t decide if I preferred Secrets of the Night (my first Beverley) or My Lady Notorious.
  7. Iain M. Banks—I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but I find his stuff riveting. Have read and reread Feersum Endjinn.
  8. Laura Kinsale—fangirl sigh. Love love love. I still have one left to read, Seize the Fire. But soon I must reread My Sweet Folly.
  9. Alice Munro—okay, remember those puzzles where one thing doesn’t belong? Here it is. Canadian short story writer, totally unromantic, but very insightful. Part of my Canadian landscape. I have still to read her latest collection.
  10. Virginia Kantra—she wrote the SIMs (Silhouette Intimate Moments) of old. Before they became Silhouette Romantic Suspense. Mad Dog and Annie is probably the best category romance I ever read.
  11. George Eliot—a long time ago in a city far away, I read all of George Eliot’s stuff and loved it. Some day, I will have to reread Middlemarch.
  12. Jane Austen—I need not say more, though a reread is in order. Yes, Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite, although Emma is a close second.
  13. Georgette Heyer—what a fun author to discover! My favorites: The Grand Sophy, Venetia, Frederica and Cotillion. Have yet to reread Heyer, though

So who have you glommed?

(Now I just have to figure out that neat boxlike thing that people have where you can enter your own TT.)

All About Samhain

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This week from Samhain:

Best sellers from My Bookstore and More:

1. Nothing Personal by Jaci Burton
2. Missing In Action by Amanda Young
3. Steelflower by Lilith Saintcrow

From last week, Half Moon Rising and The Tribute made it onto the list. As did Fireworks.